Problem: William earns a base salary of $250.00 every week with an additional 11% commission on everything he sells. If William sold $4950.00 worth of items last week, what was his total salary?
First, find the amount of commission made by using the following formula: commission rate $\times$ total sales $=$ amount of commission made Since the commission rate is a percentage, we have to convert it into a decimal first. Percent means "out of one hundred," so $11\%$ is equivalent to $\frac{11}{100}$ which is also equal to $11 \div 100$ $11 \div 100 = 0.11$ Now you have all the information you need to find the amount of commission made: $0.11$ $\times$ $$4950.00$ $=$ $$544.50$ We can find the total salary for William by adding the amount of commission made to his base salary. amount of commission made $+$ base salary $=$ total salary $$544.50$ $+$ $$250.00$ $=$ $$794.50$ The total salary William made last week was $$794.50$.